Live Review: Cat Power, Carla Geneve

Some people aren’t what you expect. After a bashful greeting and nervous half wave, we might’ve expected a meek and mild performance from young Albany native Carla Geneve. Fat chance. Geneve crackled with energy throughout her set, with powerful singing and muscular, crunching guitar; the strength of which was made all the more poignant in contrast to the confessional vulnerability of what seemed to be highly personal songs. With a commanding stage presence and solid songwriting chops, Geneve may soon be a force to be reckoned with. 

Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, does things her way. That this gig would be different to others was obvious from the start, as she sauntered onto the stage wielding a slow-burning incense stick and a cup of tea, teabag still stewing away American style. The stage was lit with only soft backlights and Marshall, clad in a full-length black dress, appeared only in silhouette. The resulting shrouding effect was enigmatic, with a ghostly blue outline framing her head. 

In among Marshall’s own material were rambling medleys of covers, sometimes just snippets, ranging from Nico to Frank Ocean. It was highly unpredictable, with Marshall not afraid to take extreme liberties improvising around melody. A radically different take on Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Into My Arms had Marshall exploring the limits of the song. It was a risky gambit, but one that garnered whoops of appreciation from the attentive throng. The Nick Cave nexus continued as Marshall dedicated Shivers, an emotional high point, to recently deceased Bad Seed, Conway Savage, before tackling Good Woman, which originally featured Warren Ellis. 

The versatile trio backing Marshall were adept at conjuring all manner of moods and atmospheres, but highlights came in the simple grooves, such as during the hypnotic rendition of Cross Bones Style and Woman, one of the freshest sounding picks of the night.

It was a set that might have come off better in an intimate indoor setting, but Marshall made full use of the stage, patrolling its borders and living out each song in her unique way. That she was half-hidden in darkness the entire time focused the attention, but also made it harder to connect.